Ann Romney with her husband, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, after introducing him to a crowd on Labor Day in Manchester, N.H. on Sept. 5. (AP photo)

Mitt Romney’s wife, Ann, who has a knack for endearing her husband with voters, will next week make her first appearance in Iowa this election cycle.

Ann Romney will speak at a fundraiser for Chad Airhart, a Mitt Romney backer who is in his first year as county recorder in Dallas County.

“It’s an honor to have the next first lady of the United States do a fundraiser for me,” Airhart told The Des Moines Register this afternoon.

The event will be at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 4 at the Adel home of Chris and Beverly McLinden, Republicans who hosted Mitt Romney for a campaign event four years ago.

The Romney campaign has said Ann Romney, a 62-year-old mother of five sons, will have a bigger role in his second presidential campaign starting in October, with more public appearances, media interviews and a willingness to talk about her family, the Associated Press reported Sunday.

To Iowans four years ago, Ann Romney presented a softer image of her husband, sharing the “tiny details that people don’t know about us,” such as that he “makes extraordinary mashed potatoes,” taught her how to change their son’s diapers, and served as her rock when she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.

The last time The Des Moines Register quoted her here was on Dec. 30, 2007, when she thanked supporters and referred to the yearlong Iowa campaign as life-changing.

“This has been a great experience. Whatever happens, we are going to be better for our experience in Iowa,” she told more than 100 people at the Fuel and Nest Coffee Shop in Mount Vernon.

In December 2007, a McClatchy-MSNBC poll of likely GOP caucusgoers showed Romney had a slight lead in Iowa with 27 percent compared to Mike Huckabee’s 24 percent.

But in January 2008, Romney, the heavy GOP favorite in Iowa earlier in that election cycle, finished a disappointing second to Huckabee in the caucuses.

This election cycle, Romney was squeezed out of frontrunner status when Texas’s Rick Perry jumped into the race on Aug. 13. Perry’s wife, Anita, campaigns in Iowa tomorrow.

Airhart, 34, of Waukee, a Romney backer last election cycle, endorsed Minnesota’s Tim Pawlenty this cycle. He turned back to Romney after Pawlenty dropped out of the race the day after the Iowa Straw Poll.

To RSVP to the Ann Romney event, email info@chadairhart.com. The suggested donation is $25, Airhart said.

“She will speak and talk about her and her husband’s travels around the country and their plans for America,” Airhart said.